Yeah, at this point Daryl Morey has to hold out hope for an opposing front office to make a desperate trade deadline deal to salvage a disappointing season.
And that could be the Kings' front office, for the record. Every year in Sacramento has been one more to add to the longest playoff drought in the NBA, and McNair could get twitchy come the trade deadline if the three guard line-ups aren't yielding dividends and the playoffs look like they're slipping out of reach. Maybe McNair becomes more amenable to the idea of parting with De'Aaron Fox under those circumstances. My guess is Morey is waiting to try and capitalize on just such an opportunity.
It remains a big gamble, because there's no telling how the Simmons situation is going to impact Philly's on-court play this season. And wasting a year of Embiid's career is kinduva mortal sin, given how tight the Sixers' contention window is with a franchise player who has such a rickety medical history.